It'll Be Okay
by astarkofwinterfelll
Summary: A plea for help in the middle of the night sends Hux down a path he would have much rather left in the past. A short Modern Kylux AU.


A tremendous vibration pulled Hux from his, albeit quite light, sleep. He had foolishly left his phone on a glass tabletop, so the whole thing shook with a demanding presence as the text came through. In his defence, no one had texted his personal phone in a little over a month.

He groaned softly in annoyance as the bright light burned into his eyes. He squinted in order to read the message on display, once his eyes focused enough to make sense of the words the soft groan turned to a loud splutter of anger.

 _Ren, 3:49am: can you pick me up_

Now wide awake with hatred and disgust flowing through his veins, Hux tossed the phone back onto the table, with every intent to ignore the message and go back to sleep. But he couldn't. Every nerve was standing alert; Hux told himself it was with hatred for the man. He hadn't even spoken to Ren for three months, after he had stormed out of their apartment in a rage and not long after sending the idiot Dameron round to collect his stuff. There was no way he was prepared to ditch the comfort of his bed to go and collect Ren from whatever misfortune he had found himself in this time.

Yet, something other than pure hatred was keeping Hux from closing his eyes. He felt the familiar burn of concern brewing in the pit of his stomach, the one that only came in association to Ren. His memory recalled long nights of them patching Ren's wounds, long nights of Hux waiting up, wondering if this was the time he wasn't coming back. It was the second buzz of the phone that did it for him.

 _Ren, 3:54am: please._

Hux continued to grumble under his breath, mostly in annoyance with himself, as he sat up and grabbed the phone. All of his and Ren's texts had long been deleted, so now all that appeared on the screen were the two short messages. Every cell in his body told him to drop the phone, but against his better judgement Hux quickly typed out a reply.

 _Ren, what the fuck do you think you're doing? I haven't seen you for months, I'm not about to drop everything because you're wholly incompetent at looking after yourself._

Satisfied his message was particularly scathing and lacking in affection, Hux sent the text. He tried to tell himself he replied solely to scold Ren, but seconds after pressing send Hux was out of bed and dressing himself. Ren's reply came almost instantly.

 _Ren, 3:56am: hux i really am sorry for this but ive got no one else to turn to. somethin rlly fcked up happened and i need you. youll know what to do._

Hux groaned to himself at the cheesiness of Ren's plea for help, as well as the obvious lack of basic grammar. Nevertheless, he replied.

 _Where are you?_

Ren sent him an address, as well as a message asking him to hurry. Hux continued to berate himself as he pulled his shoes on and walked down to his car, his self-loathing never ceasing as he put the address into his GPS and pulled out of the driveway. He silently blessed the quietness that settles over a city at 4 in the morning; it was silly but he felt as though no one was there to see what he was doing, no one to judge him for running straight back to Ren.

The drive had been painfully short as anticipation started to build within him the closer he got to the address. After roughly twenty minutes of driving he reachued the street. It was an unbelievably upper class area, the houses that lined the street were one storey short of being classed as mansions. Hux's mind swirled with all the ridiculous reasons Ren could possibly need picking up from a place like this.

Slowing his car to a crawl he squinted into the darkness, looking for Ren. Sure enough, midway down the road Hux spotted a slouched figure sat on the curb. He could feel a slight sweat start to break as his breathing quickened; after months of silence, there he was, the mighty Kylo Ren, collapsed in the street.

He came to a stop directly next to Ren, leaning over and opening the passenger door, refusing in his stubbornness to actually get out the car and help him. It was more than enough that he had turned up. The massive shape rose from the ground at the sound of the engine stopping, as he neared the car Ren's features became clear by the dim glow of the car's lights. From what Hux could see beneath the long hair (longer than he remembered it), Ren looked dreadful. His matted hair clung to his face, and the paleness of his complexion made the dark circles under his eyes all the more evident. His hair covered his face too much for Hux to really look at him, though.

It wasn't until Ren collapsed into the passenger seat that the smell hit Hux too; blood, and sweat, and grime. Hux didn't even try to hide the disgust from his expression, not that Ren would have noticed, he had his head down and refused to meet Hux's eye.

They were silent for a few seconds, both of them at a loss for what to say. It was Hux who eventually broke the heavy silence.

"This had better be life or fucking death, Ren," he scolded. When it was clear Ren wasn't going to reply, Hux sighed and carried on. "What in the world do you think you're doing making me come and collect you in the middle of the night? You better have a fucking good explanation for this."

"I can't tell you," the raspiness of Ren's voice startled Hux slightly, but he didn't show it. He kept his head pointed forward and a death grip on the steering wheel, he was afraid he would do something idiotic like take his hand if he let go.

"I don't really care," Hux lied. "What I do want to know is why you had the nerve to come to me? Could you not have called up one of your little criminal friends? Or even your family?"

"There's no one left," Ren whispered. "I... I can't go back to either of them, not anymore." It was at that moment he turned his head to face Hux, and he finally saw what Ren has been hiding. Starting at the base of his chin and carrying on through his cheek and forehead was a deep slash. It was still bleeding ever so slightly.

" _Jesus christ_ ," Hux gasped softly. "We need to take you to a hospital." He was starting up the car, intending to drive Ren to the nearest hospital, when he was stopped by a hand suddenly gripping his wrist, tightly. He looked up to see Ren glaring at him intensely.

"No hospitals," he said, gruffly, letting go of Hux. Hux just scoffed in disbelief.

"Your face has been cut open, Ren, you need medical attention. I can't do anything, I'm not a fucking doctor. I don't even know how to administer stitches." Ren remained silent, keeping his glare on Hux, a deep intensity furrowed into his brows. He seemed to be pleading with him more than threatening him. Hux sighed.

"Fine, no hospitals," he turned his car on. "But don't you dare bleed out on my upholstery. And there is no way in hell I'm taking you back to _my_ apartment." He put special emphasis on the word 'my' to make it clear to Ren it was his space now. Ren had lost any claim to that apartment when he left.

"We can't go to mine," Ren muttered. "It's not... it's not safe." Hux scoffed, again, at the drama of it all.

"Well unless you have any bright ideas..."

"Dameron's," he said weakly, cutting him off. "We can go to Dameron's. He's away and I have a spare key." Hux rolled his eyes at the mention of Poe Dameron, but resisted the urge to argue as he put the car in gear and drove off.

They drove in silence for several minutes, Hux couldn't be sure but he swore he heard Ren crying softly. He tried his best to remain disinterested and aloof, but his curiosity eventually got the better of him.

"What happened, Ren?" He put it across in a tone as scolding as he could muster. Allowing himself to say that one sentence seemed to open some sort of floodgate. "I haven't seen you in months, and then you text me in the middle of the night, make me come out here to collect your sorry self, and you won't tell me a thing. What happened to your face? Why were you at that house? If I'm aiding in something I have a right to know." Ren remained silent through Hux's rant, keeping his gaze forward on the road. Hux looked over at him, noticing how he looked particularly out of it now, his face devoid of any colour as the bleeding continued. He hated how it caused a pang if concern.

"It's for your own good if you don't know," Ren whispered.

"Don't come out with that bullshit, Ren," Hux retorted. "Surely you knew me long enough to know that would never work."

"Surely you knew me long enough not to ask about this shit."

"No," Hux's voice was just below a shout now. "No, Ren, not now. You don't get to pull this. Not today. You abandoned me! Everything I had worked for my entire life had just collapsed around me and you left..."

"You were going to drag me down with you, Hux," Ren seemed to regain some semblance of strength as he cut Hux off, his words seething with anger. "Everything you had fell apart because of your own mistakes, and you were ready to destroy everything I had worked for too." Hux actually laughed, hearing himself the poison that seeped out with it.

"Are you trying to blame me for you lying to me for our entire relationship? I wanted to take Snoke down because his 'business' was destroying lives, mine included. I had no idea you were so heavily involved because you never told me! It was your fault, Ren, not mine!" Hux was practically screeching at this point, his grip on the wheel was so tight his knuckles turned white.

Ren was quiet. Hux had never seen him so outwardly refuse to take the bait in an argument. He didn't know if that was a good thing, or if Ren was so angry he had wiped out. For a second, Hux actually feared for his life. However it quickly dissipated as he caught Ren mutter something under his breath.

"Oh speak _up_ , Ren," Hux sighed.

"I killed him, Hux," Ren said softly, a hint of fear in his voice.

"What, you... you killed someone?" Hux felt a twitch of anxiety settle in his stomach. If Ren had just killed someone he had dragged Hux into too; he was an accomplice now, he could go to jail.

"Snoke," Ren's voice was barely above a whisper. "I killed Snoke, Hux." The anxiety turned into outright terror as Hux slammed on the breaks. He looked over at Ren, who was gripping onto the sides of the car in reaction to the sudden stop.

"Ren," Hux rasped, as calmly as he could manage. "Are you telling me you have just murdered the leader of the most powerful organised crime ring in the state?" There was a brief moment of quiet before Ren responded, and then he simply nodded.

"That's who's house you picked me up from." Hux could feel the panic rapidly rising, but he suppressed it in favour of anger towards Ren. Something far worse than jail lay in his future if the wrong people found out he had been a part of this.

"How dare you pull me into this?" He spat. "Ren, do you realise what you've done to me? If anyone finds out I helped you I could lose more than I already have! I could be arrested... Ren they will kill me. They were already after me."

"I'm sorry, Hux," Ren said, flatly. "I really am, but there... there was no one else I could turn to. No one else I wanted to go to. I thought I was going to die tonight, and you were the only person I could think of. The only person who meant anything in what I thought were my last moments."

Hux sat in silence for a moment, still refusing to move the car, trying to process everything he had been told. He decided to ignore what Ren had just said, this situation was messy enough already without bringing feelings into it. He sighed, and forced himself to relax slightly, only then noticing the force of which his hands were shaking.

"I'm only starting this car again if you tell me now, with no bullshit, what just happened." His said, defiantly. Ren sighed, and nodded in agreement.

"He told me to kill Rey," Ren started.

"Rey?" Hux asked, slightly taken aback. "Your cousin?" Ren nodded.

"She was two steps away from finding enough evidence to bring Snoke down," he continued. Hux remembered Rey; Ren's estranged cousin who had found her way back to her family thanks to a bit of coincidence and her job in the police. "I... I helped her, a little bit. Told her where to look for the right evidence. I don't know why I did it, I finally saw what you saw I suppose. Snoke was tearing people apart, murdering his way to the top. Murdering innocent people in the name of order. I think Rey endured me because she thought she could bring me home, to my family, but I saw something more for us. Start driving and I'll tell you the rest."

Hux restarted the car and started driving slowly, unsure if he could remember the way to Dameron's with all this swirling through his mind. Ren was quiet for a few minutes as Hux navigated his way back to the main road.

"I thought I could convince her," he said eventually. "I thought by killing Snoke she would trust me. If the two of us took over the First Order, with me running it and her holding down the police angle, we would make it better than it had ever been. I was even going to ask you to come back. But she refused. Called me a monster. She was screaming at me, so I swung for her. But she dodged it, grabbed a piece of broken glass and did this," he gestured to the gash Hux had all but forgotten about. "I passed out after that, and when I woke up was when I texted you."

Ren went quiet after that, more than likely exhausted from the effort of talking for so long. For all his dramatics, the man had just had his face it cut open. Hux looked over at him and he had his head down again, but his hair was pushed back so Hux could see his face. The way the neon street lights framed his face made him seem almost angelic; his long nose accentuating the curves of his face, his eyes heavy with years of anguish. Hux sighed in defeat, he may hate this man with every ounce of soul but he would be lying if he said he didn't still love him.

They drove in silence until they reached Dameron's apartment. Hux was sure Ren had dropped off, if it wasn't for his occasional soft snore he would have feared he had died. Hux shook him gently, with care, once he stopped the car. He had to half carry Ren up the stairs and into the apartment, despite everything the crushing weight of Ren felt almost like a comfort. A reminder of a time when things were simpler, when Hux was happier.

Once inside Hux tried his best to patch up the gash across Ren's face. The cut was, mercifully, nowhere near as deep as Hux had originally feared; it more than likely needed stitches but he doubted it would scar too badly without them, and he figured Ren had passed out more from shock than blood loss. He raided Dameron's medical cupboard and set about cleaning the wound, he tried to ignore Ren's sad eyes looking up at him as he wiped away any dirt with an antiseptic wipe.

"It's just like old times, isn't it?" Ren said, Hux noticed a faint glimmer of a smile on his lips as he said this. He laughed spitefully, he couldn't count how many times he had been up at a ridiculous hour patching up Ren's wounds. Placing a few dressings over the worst of the cut, Hux stepped back to admire his handiwork. It wasn't perfect, but at least it wouldn't get infected.

Suddenly realising how exhausted he was, Hux collapsed back into a large couch in the centre of the room. Ren remained on the kitchen stool for a few seconds longer, looking uncertain, before eventually coming to join Hux on the other end of the sofa. They sat in a mutual exhausted silence, both trying to fully comprehend the night's events.

"I'm sorry it all got so fucked up," Ren said after a period of silence. "Everything, I mean, not just tonight." Hux shook his head in dismissal; all their anger and resentment seemed so pointless now.

"It's fine," Hux sighed. "I know I shut myself off after Starkiller went to shit. We both just... let our relationship crumble. We're both to blame."

"I... I've regretted pretty much everything I've ever done in my life," Ren said, looking away from Hux. "But I've never regretted anything more than when I left you. It was stubbornness that kept me away at first, and then shame. I couldn't face you, not after leaving the way I did. And when I started to see you were right about Snoke... I guess I was too embarrassed that I had been loyal to him and not you." Hux started to dig his nails into his palms, trying to focus his mind on anything other than the intense longing he felt for Ren. He refused to meet his eye, for fear of crumbling completely.

"Are they going to come after us?" He managed to respond eventually, cringing at the emotion in his voice. Ren sighed.

"The police? Well that all depends if Rey talks. No one else knew I was there. Even if they do, I swear to you I won't give you up, no one will ever know you helped me." The strange thing was Hux believed him, almost trusted him. But it wasn't the police he was worried about.

"What about..." he started, but was cut off by the shake in his voice. Sensing his fear Ren shuffled slightly closer to Hux and tentatively took his hand. Hux startled at the affection at first, but the sense of security that came with it eased his mind as quickly as it had shocked it.

"They won't come after you," Ren assured him, using his free hand to turn Hux's face towards him, their eyes finally meeting. "Again, no one knows I was there, no one knows it was me. Even if for some reason they find out, they'll never think you would have been involved in anyway."

They stayed like that for barely ten seconds, but it felt like hours to Hux. Ren was his every weakness, and he was doing nothing to fight it. The moment was finally broken when Hux turned his gaze away, overcome with exhaustion. He sunk back further into the couch, still holding Ren's hand. Ren followed suit and collapsed heavily next to Hux, drooping his head to lean it on top of Hux's. Both of them were on the verge of sleep, the last thing Hux remembered hearing were Ren's soft words:

"It'll be okay."


End file.
